Biomedical Science: My Third Year
Hello everyone! I’m well into my third year now which, is both incredibly scary and exciting. I won’t lie, there is a lot of stress at this moment but more on that later.
Planning your time. I thought I’d been an amazing planner all through my first and second year. I was totally wrong. Although, third year is more enjoyable than second year, deadlines come thick and fast. It’s not as often as second year but the work is often greater in size. My advice is to make a list of everything that needs to be done in a priority order. I then remove what I complete off it. It really helps to keep track of what needs doing and stops you from falling behind.
Choosing your modules. There are three paths that you can take. Either majority coursework, a mix or majority exam. I chose majority coursework hence why I am currently stressed but it does mean that I only have 3 exams in April. I have chosen 3 modules that involve coursework or exams that are this term. Friends that have chosen more exam-based modules are still stressed, module choices don’t change this. But you can cater for your abilities so if you struggle with exams then you can really limit the modules that involve your weakness.
Exams and project. This year exams are really early on. In my first and second year exams were towards the end of May and the start of June but this year they are all April. This is to make way for the big project. It’s worth 30 CATs (so 1/4 of the year), 6 of the CATs are a presentation that you do in term 2 and then 24 CATs are the written work. My project is Cholera in Haiti: Build a predictive model, I think this will really be the highlight of my year. We are given 5 weeks to complete the ~10,000 project.
IATL: a chance to branch out. There is a brilliant opportunity to branch out of science and experience different courses. I chose to do gender and violence to learn about how men/women suffer differently all over the world. I am in a seminar with people from theatre studies, law, sociology and biomedical science. You get a mix of different viewpoints and have debates with people who don’t just consider biology and hormones. I’ve started viewing programmes differently, analysing different aspects and building different skills.
Overall, third year has been amazing! It’s so much better when you can choose the majority of your modules. You can really tailor your experience. I have loved my years at Warwick and will be sad to see it all end, but I have a job lined up ready for my adult life to begin! Although, I am still staying in Leamington next year, I’m not quite ready to give it up yet.
